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adMarks
Integrated Strategies
for a Multi Channel World
On Wednesday, November 7,
CADM will host a full day of
dynamic, interactive, timely,
and provocative workshops
targeting intermediate-level
direct marketers in Chicago. Featuring 12 indepth sessions and 23 speakers, this eighth annual Bob Stone Education Day will afford unique
educational and networking opportunities at an
incredible value.
Topics will include:
• Speed Networking
• Podcasting...From Music To Marketing Success
• Next Practice Trends In Global Direct
Marketing
• Thresholds, Events, and Behavior: Managing
The Overall Customer Experience
• Landing Pages: Let Your Visitors Tell You
What Works Best
• The Database–Web Integration Imperative
• Mobile Meets Direct Marketing
• 10 Things You Need To Know
In Direct Marketing For 2008
• Consumer-Generated Media:
Letting Consumers Play With Your Brand
• Leveraging Customer Insight
In A Multi Channel World
November ’07
vol. 14 issue #1
in this issue
From the President
2
Member Alert/Calendar
3
Insider Info
4-5
CADM News
6
SIG Corner
7
CADM Event
8
Member Briefs
Ask the DM Experts
adMarks is printed by
Rainbow Graphics,
Mundelein, IL
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What:
Bob Stone Education Day 2007
When:
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
8:00 a.m. Registration Desk Opens,
Continental Breakfast
8:15 a.m. Speed Networking
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Choose from 12 workshops
12:15 p.m. Luncheon and
Wheelless Award presentation
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. “Cocktails &
Connections” – CADM’s 53rd Anniversary
Party at Lizzie McNeill’s Irish Pub
Where:
University of Chicago Gleacher Center,
450 N. Cityfront Plaza, Chicago
Key Event
Sponsor: The Allant Group
To register: Call 312.849.CADM (2236) or visit
CADM’s web site at www.cadm.org
• Meeting The Challenge Of Media Integration
• Integrated Intelligence: Brand And Response
• Managing Your Personal Brand
• CEO Forum (Invitation Only)
This event has become the “midyear meeting” for
CADM, so be sure to register early and plan to
join your marketing colleagues at our new venue:
The University of Chicago Gleacher Center. ■
Using Direct Response to Enhance
Your Trade Show Efforts
By Les Stern and Andrea Leiter
It’s that time of year again – time for your organization to decide which trade shows to attend
next year. In meeting rooms across the land,
people are groaning and saying, “Do we really
have to go to that show? We go every year and
get nothing out of it.” And frequently, the
justification will be: “Well, if we don’t go, people will wonder why, and our competitors will
be sure to remind customers and prospects we
weren’t there.”
The all-too-frequent result: You will go, and you
will be disappointed.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. By using some
sound planning disciplines and integrating direct
response into your trade show
strategy, you could see some
rewarding and measurable results.
The A-P-P-L-E Approach
Les Stern
Your trade show efforts, including
the direct response initiatives, will be most successful
by following The A-P-P-L-E™ approach. The
components are:
• Audit – Take an inventory of your previous efforts.
• Position – Understand how to reach and communicate with your target market.
• Plan – Develop your trade show strategy and
tactics.
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insiderInfo
Using Direct Response to Enhance Your Trade Show Efforts
(Continued from page 1)
• Launch – Execute your trade show tactics, including direct
• Having people come to your booth for new product intro-
response tactics.
• Evaluate – Measure the results of your efforts to determine
how to improve them.
• Having people come to a special event, VIP event, hospitality
The Audit includes a review of all trade show activities, including
a rational analysis of what did and did not work and why. This
includes an evaluation of all direct response activities, including
pre-show activities to get people to come to your booth, at-show
activities to generate leads or other desired results, and postshow efforts to convert leads to sales or generate additional
leads. This should be done for all shows, concluding with
specific recommendations.
The Position ensures that you understand which trade shows
your target market attends and what the target market’s goals
are in attending those shows. Any brand communication
research should include these questions. Combining what you
have learned through the Audit and Position phases, you can
now develop your trade show Plan. This would include:
• Which trade shows you will be attending.
• What your marketing goals are (awareness, leads and sales,
obtaining product feedback, etc.).
• Tactics, including direct response tactics.
• Who will be attending (your key targeted and segmented
audiences).
• Budget.
Direct Response Launch Tactics
Pre-show strategy development and planning are among the most
important activities for marketers and direct marketers alike.
Consider the following:
• Exhibitions that use pre-show promotion including direct
mail increase the percentage of visitors who are converted to
qualified leads by 50%. (Source: Power of Exhibitions II Study
by Deloitte & Touche)
• 87% of trade show leads captured are never followed up on.
(Source: Exhibit Surveys Tradeshow Trend Study, 2004).
• 74% of executives who attend exhibitions decide in advance
who they are going to visit. Planning is based on information
they receive from exhibitors. (Source: Chicago InComm
Center for Research)
• Converting leads increases (by as much as 50%) when using an
Integrated Marketing Approach that includes direct marketing.
(Source: Power of Exhibitions II Study by Deloitte & Touche)
Your plan could and should include numerous direct response
tactics. These can be divided into three key areas of activity:
pre-show, at-show, and post-show.
Pre-show
Actually, most of your direct marketing activities should occur
before the show even takes place. Pre-show tactical goals can
include, but may not be limited to, the following:
• Having people come to your booth in general.
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ductions or demonstrations and to conduct pre-market tests.
suite, philanthropic or corporate social responsibility or
“Trade In” campaign or event, etc.
• Having people meet somewhere other than at the booth to
conduct detailed business.
Varying offers can be used to encourage people to take these
actions. These could include:
• Drawings and contests for prizes.
• Special “show” pricing discounts.
• The opportunity to meet senior executives of your organization, or industry leaders for new business or strategic partnership opportunities.
• The opportunity to receive white papers, or new productrelated market research or scientific-based research for new
product applications.
All of these can be communicated using traditional direct
response techniques. Direct mail can be sent to conference
attendees, as well as people on your client and prospect lists.
Key clients and prospects can be called by account managers,
sales, executives, etc. And don’t forget digital direct response,
including e-mails and sign up forms on your web site.
At show
You can employ numerous direct response tactics at the show
both in terms of attracting attendees to your booth and in
generating leads and sales once at the booth. These include:
• Putting a reminder card in the conference packet reminding
people to stop by your booth to enter a drawing, see a product
demo, pick up a White Paper, obtain special pricing, etc. You
might even include an additional enticer such as event tickets
to your VIP list.
• If you have e-mail addresses of attendees, communicate this
same reminder via e-mail. With the widespread Internet access
at hotels and use of PDAs, it is reasonable to assume a great
number of people will receive this message. It might even be
optimal to send the message just as the exhibit hall opens.
• Having a special section at your booth where people can sit
down and review and/or sign a proposal — on the spot.
Post-show
Of course, your efforts do not stop once the show is over. The
following are suggested direct response tactics for after the show:
• Special offer mailings, e-mails or telephone calls to people.
The special offering is a way to thank them for stopping by
your booth, attending a demo, etc.
• Similar communications to attendees who did not contact you
at the show, also providing the special offer.
• Communications to customers and prospects who did not
attend the show, perhaps sending a White Paper that was
distributed at the show or announcing the outcome of a contest
or campaign.
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• A newsletter or e-mail to customers and prospects announcing
the outcome of a Corporate Social Responsibility-based program.
• An e-mail announcing “News from the Show” with media
news or “At-Show” coverage, receipt of special show product
awards, or industry trade publication editorial coverage resulting from the show.
Evaluating Results
How you evaluate the results of your direct response efforts and
all trade show efforts depends on what your goals are.
• If all you wanted your direct response and other tactics to
accomplish was an increase in awareness, did you accomplish
that? How many new contacts did you make?
• If your goal was credibility, did you get your message across?
Were your case studies and White Papers well received? What
was the reaction to your new product demonstration?
• If your goal was to receive product feedback, did you receive
valuable feedback? Did it result in a change in your thinking?
Remember, if sales and ROI were not the ultimate goals, you
need to be able to state that to management when they ask how
many sales or revenues you generated.
If your goals are leads, and then sales, return on investment is
obviously the ultimate barometer. The table below provides a
relatively basic methodology for tracking ROI from your trade
show (or any other) efforts.
Tracking ROI
Leads
50
Sales
10
Conversion Ratio
20%
Average Revenue
$5,000
Total Revenue
$50,000
Product Costs
$20,000
Trade Show Costs
$10,000
Salary/Commission
$7,500
Total Cost (Investment)
$37,500
Profit
$12,500
Return on Investment
33%
Evaluating your results is not the end of your efforts, however.
In fact, this evaluation can be used as the basis to begin the Audit
process for developing the following year’s trade show strategy. ■
Les Stern is President of L. Stern & Associates, a marketing consultancy based in Northbrook, Illinois. He can be contacted at
les@lsternmktg.com or 847-205-1936. Andrea Leiter is a brand
and PR strategist and President of Leiter Communications, Inc.
She can be contacted at andrea@leitercommunications.com or
630-778-5866.
Mark Your Calendar for the Eighth Annual Bob Stone
Education Day – Wednesday, November 7
• Speed Networking Continental Breakfast
• Invitation-only CEO Forum
• The Wheeless Award Luncheon
• Podcasting, Mobile Marketing
• Integrated Intelligence
• Consumer-Generated Media
• Web Database Integration
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